what makes up your 1500 calorie day and still enables you to

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I exercise a lot and was told the reason why i am not losing is because i am not eating enough. A trainer at my gym says that i should be eating 1500-1600 cal a day depending upon how hard i workout. I workout at least 5days a week and can't seem to lose the 10lbs!! I am toning up but not losing weight this has been going on since jan!!

my question is....what do you eat to make up your 1500 cal a day and it is still healthy enough to lose weight??? I don't know what to eat i never feel hungry just eating 1300calories!! i exercise in the evening and burn at least 500 cal a day for those 5 days. I just never know how to eat all that food. ANY SUGGESTIONS is very much appreciated!!! PLEASE HELP!! thanks everyone!!

Replies

  • stang41992
    stang41992 Posts: 129 Member
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    I would love to hear the answer here. I'm stuck trying to get to the same place you are!
  • BetterVersion
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    Are you currently at 1300 then? What I do is add in extra veggies and such to get to that 1500 mark. Put tomatoes and lettuce on a sandwich and eat an extra veggie serving at dinner. If you typically have a snack mid-afternoon, add in an apple or banana. I've been on 1500 for awhile, but found I was satisfied at 1200 most days, so for a long time I stopped pushing for the 1500. Well, my weight loss eventually slowed dramatically and so I had to get back 1500 in order to start losing again. Adding in extra fruits and veggies seems to have worked. Good luck :wink:
  • raleighgoodwins
    raleighgoodwins Posts: 68 Member
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    What I eat may be a little different than what you need to eat. I have Type 2 diabetes and so I have to be careful about carbs and have them in combination with fats or proteins. With all your exercising it sounds like you may need to eat more carbs than I do. But generally, this is what I eat.

    B'fast - 100 calorie English Muffin with peanut butter or a Fiber One bar

    Lunch - typically Salad with chicken or some other protein, or soup with a roll or baguette. Often I eat leftovers from the previous night's dinner which would be abotu 3 oz chiken, 1/4 c rice and some vegetables.

    Dinner - Some kind of protein - chicken or fish usually, rice, brocoli or greenbeans or salad. If we have pasta, I measure out the pasta and sauce (2cups pasta, 1/2 c sauce) and I eat the salad first and skip the garlic bread.

    I do sometimes snack in the afternoon or after dinner and will have a 100 calorie snack pack (something sweet) or 3c popcorn.
  • gennyvieve
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    my journal is public if you want to get an idea....i try to have alot of fruits/veggies, but i have a real weakness for carbs....if you aren't losing i'd take a look at your sodium---when i started watching my sodium i lost 5lbs.
  • sjcply
    sjcply Posts: 817 Member
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    I work out 6 days a week (burn 550-600 cal) and I eat average 1400-1500 calories a day. I am losing average of 1.5 lb per week. Are you measuring? I have lost more in inches. I follow MFP suggestions EXCEPT I add much more protein. I eat about 100-130 grams of protein. I eat (good) carbs, but make sure my protein is the same or more than my carbs. Lean meat and I supplement Protein bars/shakes to get the extra. Lots of veggies and I watch my fruit (sugar) and my sodium intake.
    Hope that helps !
  • LittleSpy
    LittleSpy Posts: 6,754 Member
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    Lean proteins, nut butters, greek yogurt I've recently started having to push myself to eat around 1400 calories a day after being on 1200 for 5 months. The extra 200 was difficult at first... until my love affair with natural peanut butter kicked itself up a notch. Now I have no problem making it to 1400 calories a day! It's really not difficult to eat a tablespoon of peanut butter. Often, a tbs of PB and an extra couple of ounces of boneless skinless chicken breast for dinner are what get me up to 1400 calories.

    Another healthy(ish) suggestion is milk.

    Anyway, I lost 53 pounds, hit a plateau, started eating 50% of my exercise calories, and after 2 weeks of that I'm losing consistently again, so I think your trainer has made a good suggestion. :smile:
  • bethrs
    bethrs Posts: 664 Member
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    Sometimes a little healthy fat- like some nuts or nutbutters can do the trick. Peanuts are relatively healthy, but are higher in calories and healthy fats.
  • lvfunandfit
    lvfunandfit Posts: 654 Member
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    My diet mainly consists of white fish, salmon occasionally, tuna occasionally, chicken breasts, turkey (lean), eggs, mainly egg whites, protein shakes, protein bars, yogurt, 1% cottage cheese, almonds or almond butter, healthy fats like olive oil, avocado, nonfat/low fat dairy and a lot of veggies and fruit along with brown rice here and there and whole wheat bread (no more than 2 slices/day and sometimes... whole wheat pasta. I eat 100+ grams of protein per day.
  • DrKloctopussy
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    I think you should definitely bump up how many calories you are eating. You say you burn 500 calories and eat 1300--that's only 800/cals per day net, which is not enough! When I went up from 1200 to 1500 I started to finally lose weight--though to be completely honest, eating 1500 calories is a lot easier for me, so I'm less likely to cheat. BUT you can definitely eat at 1500 calories, or even I think 1600-1700 if you are really burning that much at the gym.

    It's hard to say what you can add without seeing what you eat now, but a single snack can make up the difference. I like greek yogurt with sliced berries and splenda and a 1/2 cup of kashi Go Lean for a high-protein afternoon snack. You can also add a glass of milk with breakfast, or some slices of deli meat. Basically, as long as you keep eating mostly clean, you can definitely lose weight at 1500.

    I haven't been tracking consistently last week (grr) but here is a pretty average day for me:

    Breakfast:
    Thomas Better Start English Muffin w/ small amount of butter
    1c skim milk
    banana

    Snack:
    2oz deli meat on Ry-Crisp crackers (with a little mustard/mayo)
    OR string cheese + 100 cal protein shake

    Lunch (left overs from last night)
    Shrimp stirfry with a whole lot of vegetables
    1/2 cup rice

    Snack:
    single serve greek yogurt
    1/2 c sliced strawberries
    1/2 c Kashi GoLean

    Dinner:
    Roasted Chicken Breast
    Rosmary Roasted Potatoes
    Greenbeans
    Side salad if I feel fancy
  • lvfunandfit
    lvfunandfit Posts: 654 Member
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    I agree with bumping up your calories. On days I don't work out I try to stick to 1250, but on the days I do, I eat back my exercise calories and eat btwn 1500-1700 calories. (I love those days).

    If you look at my log ignore this weekend. I went to 2 BBQs and declared this weekend a an off the wagon weekend! I'm back on today!
  • lchotop
    lchotop Posts: 22
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    how do i look at others logs??
  • DawnOf1969
    DawnOf1969 Posts: 726 Member
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    Here is my sample menu from today and yesterday. I eat about 1534 cals per day. I always have plenty to eat. I am never hungry.

    B: Scrambled egg beaters (1/2 cup) w/cayenne pepper, Carnation instant breakfast w/Skim milk (270 cals)
    MS: Orange (69 cals)
    MS: Clif Bar (120 cals)
    L: Healthy Choice Beef Bourbon Dijon, Cantaloupe (316 cals--this is an exception, I dont normally eat frozen dinners)
    AS: cottage cheese and pears (150 cals)
    D: Oven fried chicken breast, cheddar rice w/broccoli and carrots, dinner roll (387 cals)
    ES: Frozen yogurt sundae (frozen yogurt with 1 tsp each of mini chocolate chips, toffee bits, nuts=166 cals)

    Plus my vitamin (15 cals), and crystal light lemonade (15 cals)


    Sunday:
    B: 2 eggs, Quaker Oatmeal, 1/4 c. skim milk, 1 T promise spread, crystal light (347 cals)
    S: orange (69 cals)
    L: Salmon burger patty, cantaloupe in poppyseed dressing, orange (316 cals)
    D: 3 oz ground turkey, 1/2 cup cheesy rice, 1/4 c. scrambled egg beaters, 1/4 cantaloupe (422 cals)
    ES: Frozen yogurt sundae (166 cals)

    plus my vitamin (15 cals) and a Gatorade G2 (45 cals)